I have to admit that I haven't given up my old copy of AutoCAD 2000i even though we have a subscription and I am also run 2010. To paraphrase a certain commercial: I mostly use Microstation but when I do use AutoCAd I prefer 2000i.

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I mostly use 14 and only use my licensed version of 2010 to make PDF's. I guess it's time to move into the modern world, but 14 works so well.

I remember 2.1 when a drawing regen would take 30 minutes. Had to be careful with the zooms.

I am attending school for CNC machining and one of my courses to complete the cert. is CAD. I am looking froward to because I am sick of sketching everything I fabricate! What CAD programs are relatively cheap to cut my teeth on? Google sketch?

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Don't know where you live but real CAD skills pay $$$ in the market.

If you are a full-time student I believe the SW EDU version is $249. I believe it is "time-bombed" to run for 18 months.

Here's my latest SW project, a flag bracket for the Tiger 1050. I made it on black ABS on a Stratasys FDM machine.

If you are a full-time student I believe the SW EDU version is $249. I believe it is "time-bombed" to run for 18 months.

Here's my latest SW project, a flag bracket for the Tiger 1050. I made it on black ABS on a Stratasys FDM machine.

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Thanks for the link Oaklandstrom! I live in N. Illinois and manufacturing jobs are on the rise. I would love to do both CAD and CNC. Being able to do both well should make me a decent asset to a company. That solidworks bracket is awesome! I can't imagine how long it would take to draw that up by hand. I went on a tour Saturday to Scot Forge in Spring Grove, Illinois. The forging and CNC work they do is on a massive scale and was amazing to see. :eek1

I am attending school for CNC machining and one of my courses to complete the cert. is CAD. I am looking froward to because I am sick of sketching everything I fabricate! What CAD programs are relatively cheap to cut my teeth on? Google sketch?

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What program does the school use? Do they have a computer lab you can work in after class? I got an engineering degree, and although I never actually took an official CAD class while an undergrad, I used the heck out of SolidWorks at school in support of my other design classes and Catia on an internship.

In St Louis, you're more likely to find CAD jobs at $13/hour at places with a high turnover. As with machinists (CNC operators and manual machinists), employers treat "you" as an expendable, easily replaceable CAD driver not capable of real thought or human interaction. I know because I interviewed at a couple of those places when I was getting desperate to leave my old job.

What program does the school use? Do they have a computer lab you can work in after class? I got an engineering degree, and although I never actually took an official CAD class while an undergrad, I used the heck out of SolidWorks at school in support of my other design classes and Catia on an internship.

I haven't been able to take the class yet, but wouldn't mind getting a head start. It has always been interesting to me.

I've done some farting around with AutoCAD in the past. Do a lot of mechanical design for test equipment here, so I have that skillset down but what I don't have is how to model it in CAD for documentation purposes. Learning to speak CAD has a bit of a learning curve. <label for="rb_iconid_29"></label> (I'm an electrical nerd, schematic/PCB layout and LabVIEW for instrument control are my tools of choice)

Company had a few open seats after a few other mechanical guys left for other ventures, so I hopped on it. There's some classes at the local Solidworks sales office, but I want to get a little more familiar with the software before I jump into that.

Autodesk gives away full versions of Inventor to students. All your files get watermarked "Education Version", but the software is good for three years!

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They'll give it away to almost anyone - for good reason.

I was talking to my son's school about their pre-engineering program and the subject of Inventor came up (because it was free). I suggested they go to Monster.com and look at the number of jobs in New England for which they were asking for Inventor skills compared to SolidWorks or Pro/E, for example.

SolidWorks - over 100 jobs. Pro/E, 25+. Inventor - two, and one of those was AutoDesk themselves.

You can buy Alibre' personal for $199 and there are a number of other other low-cost products to do 3D modeling.

When I started messing around with 3D CAD, I had to decide if I was going to pirate SolidWorks, or get some sort of shitty open source, almost good enough solution. Another option was SketchUp, which really doesn't cut it for the parts I want to make.

Then I found out about a getting a legal copy of Inventor. No brainer. If I ever need to pick up SW, it'll be a whole lot faster, now that I know Inventor. If I was 20, I'd probably pirate SW, unless I could get it for super cheap at school.

Autodesk (maker of Inventor, AutoCAD, and many, many more packages) can't become the industry leader overnight. However, they are going after the student and DIY market with a vengance. Their marketshare will grow.

I was talking to my son's school about their pre-engineering program and the subject of Inventor came up (because it was free). I suggested they go to Monster.com and look at the number of jobs in New England for which they were asking for Inventor skills compared to SolidWorks or Pro/E, for example.

SolidWorks - over 100 jobs. Pro/E, 25+. Inventor - two, and one of those was AutoDesk themselves.

You can buy Alibre' personal for $199 and there are a number of other other low-cost products to do 3D modeling.

Then I found out about a getting a legal copy of Inventor. No brainer. If I ever need to pick up SW, it'll be a whole lot faster, now that I know Inventor. If I was 20, I'd probably pirate SW, unless I could get it for super cheap at school.

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Last place I interviewed at before landing my current job said they'd hire me on the spot if I had UG/NX experience, but I only had Catia experience, so it was a "don't call us, we'll call you" situation. Gee, thanks..

It all depends on who you interview with, whether you can sell your experience on one platform as comparable to the other.

Last place I interviewed at before landing my current job said they'd hire me on the spot if I had UG/NX experience, but I only had Catia experience, so it was a "don't call us, we'll call you" situation. Gee, thanks..

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And that person was an idiot. I love these people who think that two solid modelers are so much different. Booger pickin' morons for choosing UGghh in the first place.

Last place I interviewed at before landing my current job said they'd hire me on the spot if I had UG/NX experience, but I only had Catia experience, so it was a "don't call us, we'll call you" situation. Gee, thanks..

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Boeing will not even accept your application and resume if you they ask for CATIA experience and you don't have it. They have decided to ignore ProE and SW folks completely.

Like others have said, once you learn one of them, its not hard to come up to speed on another.

Boeing will not even accept your application and resume if you they ask for CATIA experience and you don't have it. They have decided to ignore ProE and SW folks completely.

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Having been directly involved in the interviewing and hiring of two employees, let me say that the recruiters in large companies are actually detrimental to the health of the organization they supposedly work for. I actually wanted to reach through the phone and choke the fuck out of the person who kept asking me, "How many hours of Catia experience are you looking for, 'cause I can filter on that basis!"

Look, you fucktard, I don't care if they've NEVER heard of Catia, just send me the fucking resumes and let me screen them! That wasn't exactly how I said it. I may have said, "PLEASE send me the fucking resumes.".

(the guy who got the job HADN'T heard of Catia and learned it just fine.)

I started with AutoCAD r9 in college. Been though the gamut with AutoCAD and Microstation (thru V8) with both inroads and Geopak in the real world (since 1997). I am presently using Carlson Civil with AutoCAD 2007. I dread upgrading from it, it's actually quite simple yet beautiful in its own way.